What the Tide Dragged In
by FoursCake
Summary: The Amporas had a simple and peaceful life in the depths of the ocean-but when a fishing boat comes along and captures them all, their lives will shift in a completely new direction. All were placed in an aquarium, separated from each other. Will they ever collide again? Or will they be doomed to roam separate forever? Rated T for mentions of sex and subtle swearing!
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: So, I've got a new story! This story is loosely based on Aquariumstuck, but only features the Amporas (along with an OC) rather than the other trolls (bc Cronus is my precious lil angel even tho he's not liked by basically everyone else). So please welcome the prologue, hope you enjoy!**_

 _ **Also sorry for the totally generic title, trust me, it'll end up fitting in!**_

* * *

 _Prologue - Cronus_

The sunlight danced across the waves delicately as Cronus' grey and purple tail splashed among them. He was on a mission to grab some lunch, and had a major craving for tuna, so he swam at breakneck speed through a giant school of tuna and snapped at one large and meaty one. He cleared a space at the bottom and sat gently on a rock and began to snack on his catch. Multiple tropical fish circled his abdomen and chased after each other out of playfulness. His little brother, Eridan, snuck out of a coral reef nearby and head butted Cronus in the stomach, causing him to spit out a chunk of the tuna, allowing the little guppy to tear at the half eaten piece, earning a quick glare and a sigh from Cronus. Cronus continued to snack on the tuna quietly, occasionally tossing a meat covered bone at Eridan so he wouldn't whine to his father later about how Cronus "doesn't share".

After sucking off the rest of the meat from the tailbone, Cronus dropped the tuna skeleton, with the fins remaining, on the seafloor, and allowed Eridan to scavenge the rest of it. Eridan peeled off the remaining fins (Cronus thinks the fins taste the worst; they have too much muscle and fibers) and placed them in his mouth. Cronus remembers being Eridan's age and being hungry all of the time; it's common for guppies as they're trying to fill their body with the essential nutrients so that their bones can grow and that he could develop a successful tail and a successful swim bladder. Cronus and his father, Dualscar, were always worried about Eridan as he was the weakest in the roe and wasn't that great of a swimmer. Dualscar tends to have a habit of feeding Eridan even the he isn't hungry; he doesn't want a child that can't swim well.

Cronus felt a cold shiver go down his spine as his dorsal fin lifted up in the air-that's his defense mechanism, it always lifts when there's impending danger. He turned around to notice three mermaids submerged in the water, their eyes as red as fire and their black scales as sharp as knives. They all looked like triplets, besides the one in the middle having brown hair, one on the left having pink hair and the one on the right having blue hair. Cronus growled as he grabbed Eridan and shoved him underneath his arm, pushing a small chirp out of Eridan. The mermaids began to sing, and Cronus forcefully covered Eridan's ears; Cronus recognized these mermaids, they were the Sirens, dangers of the deep and holders of the most powerful singing voices that can kill one if they were to listen to just a few seconds. They came for their next meal.

Cronus began to swim in the opposite direction, but he knew that these Sirens were no joke. He felt the currents moving behind him; they were chasing him. The Siren's favorite meals are troll mermen, and that happens to be what Cronus is. Their second favorite meal is guppies, which is what poor Eridan is.

He came up to a large rock, and was quickly corned by the three devilish Sirens. He ducked, covering Eridan from their gaping fangs. The siren with pink hair lunged at Cronus, scratching him in the arm with her long red talons, letting purple blood spill out. Cronus then smelled an unpleasant odor; he was right in the middle of a piranha hideout.

The piranhas spilled out of the seaweed that encircled his long tail and smiled gleefully, revealing multiple sharp and jagged fangs; he had two groups of hungry fish that really wanted him and Eridan on their menu. A large figure came up behind the Sirens, and the Sirens turned around-Cronus figured this was his time to escape. He hid behind the tall figure, and watched the Sirens. The large figure had a purple and grey tail like Cronus-it was Dualscar, there to protect his young. He grabbed his Ahabs Crosshairs and shot a blue laser right through the heart of the brown-haired siren. Dark red blood spilled out of her fangs as she collapsed to the ground and her sisters smiled like hyenas and worked to tear at her body, along with the group of piranhas. Dualscar turned the two away from the gruesome sight and covered their backs with his large fins that trailed down from his arms. Cronus felt at ease with Dualscar guiding him back home, he knew that nothing bad could happen to him with Dualscar around.

* * *

Cronus awoke peacefully that next morning, tucked underneath Dualscar's tail fin which wrapped him like a blanket; Dualscar remained asleep as if the sudden movement had never even happened. He grabbed a piece of seaweed and munched on it quietly, and then heard a slight _bang._ He turned to the direction of the sound, which was behind him, and noticed Eridan on top of one of the multiple rocks in the cave, rubbing his head. Cronus smiled as he picked up his small brother and held him in his hands, rubbing Eridan's head where it hurt. Eridan wouldn't admit it then and there, but he felt comfortable in Cronus's hands.

Dualscar rose from his sleep soon after and grabbed Eridan out of Cronus's hands, causing him to chirp unhappily; a surprised look crossed Dualscar's face as Cronus straightened in an 'I-told-you-so' sense. Dualscar grinned and placed Eridan back in Cronus's hands, causing him to fall asleep gently and blow small bubbles through his small oval shaped mouth.

A loud engine whirring sound then surprised the Amporas, and they rushed out of their cave to notice a large fishing boat parked above it. Dualscar glared as two rods with lures slowly lowered their way into the clear blue depths. Cronus heard a voice, "I heard this spot is rich for troll mermaids and mermen." Another voice, "Yeah, hah, maybe we'll catch a good one today and be able to feed our families for weeks!" Cronus understood the language and scoffed; he and Dualscar were the only ones able to understand human conversations, but he wasn't sure at the moment if his father was actually listening. The same voice from before that mentioned about eating mer-trolls stated quickly after, "Let me get that harpoon gun out, mer-trolls aren't easily fooled by rods and lures." Cronus' eyes widened as a large harpoon shot through the depths and nailed Dualscar right in the stomach, causing purple blood to stain the clear blue ocean. Purple slimy tears spilled out of the now awake Eridan's eyes, and he chirped as he noticed his father drifting in and out of consciousness. Cronus tried to cover the wound with his hands, but the blood was spilling out too quickly, and he had just eaten that last piece of seaweed; he kicked himself for doing that as he could've used it as a gauze.

A net then shot through the water and encapsulated Cronus and Eridan, and another net encased their wounded father. The net lifted out of the water and pulled them onto the metallic silver floor of the boat, as Cronus found it instantly difficult to breathe and felt his gills slowly drying out. He took a quick glance at Eridan as his vision started to fog up, and noticed Eridan was already unconscious, and a grungy looking fisherman with a long beard taking off the net and grabbing Eridan and placing him in a red bucket with paint splatters and a broken handle. The fisherman then walked over to Cronus with a shank knife and almost got to stabbing Cronus in the neck, but Cronus took his long tail and all of his strength and swept at his ankles, causing him to fall to the ground with a loud _thud_. Cronus's eyes then shut, and he was powerless to open them again.

* * *

Cronus's eyes were forcefully opened as he noticed a powerful beaming ray of light piercing his eye. He sunk away from the light and looked up to notice a female scientist and a coast guard. The female scientist was diligently taking down notes and the coast guard was looking worriedly at Cronus. Cronus met the gaze of the coast guard and he asked, "Are you alright?" Cronus chirped, and the coast guard stated, "At least he can try to communicate." The scientist looks at him with dismay, "He's a fish. He's not going to speak English, you know." Cronus rose gently, and the coast guard grabbed a spray bottle and spritzed his gills, causing Cronus to tingle with happiness; he realized how much he missed water.

The coast guard, along with some other men, grabbed Cronus: two men at his tail and the other two having a firm grip at his shoulders. They dropped Cronus in a large tank of water in a darkened room. Cronus examined his new surroundings: the tank was in a darkened room with three more empty tanks on the back wall. Blue lights shined on the floor, creating an ocean-like pattern. His tank was large with crystal blue water, complete with a small cave and a large rock in the center. Multiple varieties of sea kelp protruded from the floor and waved around like tiny dancers throughout the water. Cronus smiled with glee as he ripped a piece of the sea kelp and began to munch on it contently. He was just glad he was back in the water.

"It seems like he's fond of his new habitat," The scientist explained, and the coast guard smiled. Cronus noticed this and instantly felt an attraction to the coast guard like he'd never felt before...his eyes were as dark as the depths and his hair as black as the Siren's tails, complete with streaks of red. The coast guard walked up to the glass and placed his hand on it; Cronus cocked his head and placed his hand to match the outline of the coast guard's. The coast guard then began to blush as he looked away, and Cronus smushed his face on the glass, clearly trying to get attention from the coast guard. The coast guard gently turned his head and noticed this and doubled over laughing soon after, and Cronus smirked, keeping the kelp in his mouth like it were a rose in a male flamenco dancer's mouth.

The scientist walked away with her clipboard and the coast guard turned to Cronus and waved, to which Cronus blew a kiss towards the bashful coast guard. He giggled and walked out, leaving Cronus behind with his smitten emotions.

* * *

Eridan wriggled in the red bucket uncomfortably as he was carried into a small room containing multiple tanks of jellyfish. He was placed in a medium sized tank by himself (or so it seemed) and he swam around in circles, chirping to try and get either Cronus or Dualscar's attention. A chirp rang through the rest of the tank, and Eridan looked on in horror as a small blue mermaid emerged from a small batch of kelp in the back of the tank. He squealed in dismay as he tried to swim away, but his guppy fins wouldn't carry him that far as the mermaid caught up to him and grabbed him by his cape. She placed his tail in her mouth and threw him up in the air and caught him again, as Eridan began to feel nauseous.

The blue mermaid let him go and she chirped again, but remained still so Eridan could study her: she wasn't that old, probably just had gotten her new tail, and she had tan skin with blue scales on her sides and sharp darker blue scales on her bottom torso. Her long blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders, and her light yellow eyes were enticing to Eridan. He swooned as she picked him up again and started to pet him, and he chirped with happiness as she rubbed his small horns at the top of his head.

The mermaid chirped, and Eridan understood what she had said, _**"My name is Sereia. What's your name?"**_ Eridan chirped back, _**"I'm Eridan, Eridan Ampora."**_ Sereia smiled, _**"I like that name."**_ Eridan sighed, _**"Me too."**_ Sereia giggled at his comment, and smiled, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Eridan shrunk back, instantly being reminded of the Sirens, " _ **You aren't related to the Sirens, are you?"**_ She giggled, " _ **No! I was a mer-troll guppy, but I had tropical mermaid genes, which is why I'm not gray and I don't have horns anymore. I used to have all that stuff but now I don't!"**_

Sereia continued, _**"I'm really happy I have someone to spend my time with now!"**_ Eridan giggled, _**"Me too! We'll be best friends, right?"**_ Sereia nodded, _**"Of course!"**_

Both fish latched pinkies, repeating a particular oath, _**"Never shall we part!"**_

* * *

 _ **A/N: I'm so excited to show you guys the next chapter, it's the origin story of my other OC!**_

 ** _Hope you guys enjoyed! Also, if I have any errors, please point them out (gently bc I have feelings too) as this is my first Homestuck related story and I tried really hard!_**

 ** _I do NOT own anything related to Aquariumstuck, I was just inspired!_**

 ** _Love you all!_**

 ** _~~Four's Cake_**

 ** _Xx_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: THE SUSPENSE WAS KILLING ME I JUST HAD TO UPDATE.**_

 _ **BTW, just want to clear something up: with Cronus and with the new character, their text is in bold because to normal humans they sound like dolphin chirps, but I made it bold to distinguish it from normal human characters talking. :)**_

 _ **Also, song lyrics are from the song Fantasy by Alina Baraz and Galamatias!**_

* * *

 _Prologue - Nerida's P.O.V_

Nerida flapped her tail onto the dark grey seafoam covered rock in disgust, as her sister Cayra looked on angrily, _**"We get it, you're hungry."**_ Nerida nodded impatiently, and her youngest sister Danae stated, **_"I think I see lunch."_** A large trading ship approached the three mermaids and Danae grinned as all of her teeth sharpened into pointy fangs; lunch had indeed arrived.

The ship stopped next to the rock, and the crew simultaneously looked over the railing, and infatuation danced across their faces. One particularly drunk sailor yelled out, "Ey lads, look! Mermaids!" Danae dived underneath the rough waves and propelled herself up onto the railing of the ship, grabbing the hair of one of the sailors. She began to sing, looking like a sultry vixen as she wooed the sailors:

 ** _So you say you wanna get away_**  
 ** _We don't need a plane_**  
 ** _I could be your escape_**  
 ** _Take you to a place_**  
 ** _Where there's no time, no space_**  
 ** _I could be your private island_**  
 ** _On a different planet_**  
 ** _Anything could happen_**  
 ** _Listen to the waves_**  
 ** _Let them wash away your pain_**

One sailor leaned over the railing, and Danae grabbed his chin with her silver webbed hand as she continued to sing:

 ** _I could be your fantasy_**  
 ** _I could be your fantasy_**  
 ** _Underneath the palm trees_**  
 ** _You could leave your worries_**  
 ** _Listen to the waves_**  
 ** _Say you want to get so high?_**  
 ** _Breathe me in like air tonight_**  
 ** _Listen to the waves_**  
 ** _I could be your fantasy_**

The sailor stared intently at Danae as he leaned even further down from the ship, and with one swift movement, Danae snapped his neck and jumped off, pulling him down into the water. Nerida and Cayra dove in after her, listening to the frantic screams of the rest of the crew. Nerida turned around to her sister, noticing the blood spilling into the water from Danae already tearing into his flesh. Nerida was oddly sickened by the sight, and felt her stomach churn and pressed on it to relieve some pressure. Cayra stopped, _**"Nerida, are you alright?"**_ Cayra went to comfort her sister, placing an arm around the back of her neck and dragging her down to the bottom towards Danae. Danae looked at Nerida with a blood covered mouth, causing Nerida to turn away almost instantly. Danae growled, _**"What's wrong with her?"**_ Cayra became instantly worried, _**"She must be getting a stomachache from a bad clam or something."**_ Nerida wriggled free from her sister and swam into the cave, shutting the seaweed over the door.

Nerida placed a purple and pink webbed hand on her face, looking into a reflective surface on the side of the cave; she had become very pale and had no idea what was wrong with her. Cayra stormed in, _**"Why'd you run off?"**_ Nerida whispers, _**"I think I got sick by seeing Danae rip that man to shreds...people don't deserve to be eaten..."**_ Cayra laughs, _**"Oh Neptune, don't tell me you're going to be a vegetarian now."**_ Nerida glares, _**"No, but I'm not going to eat people!"**_

Cayra laughs and starts to swim out, when Nerida notices a pointy object suddenly pierce through Cayra's abdomen. She falls to the ground limp as golden blood spills onto the cave floor, _**"Cayra! Danae, get help!"**_ Cayra puts a golden webbed hand on Nerida's face, _**"Let me go, Nerida."**_ Pink tears spill out of Nerida's eyes, _**"No, Cayra! It's not your time! You can't go!"**_ Cayra's hand falls from Nerida's face onto the cold rock below, and her eyes gently flutter shut. _**"No no no no no!"**_ Nerida screams, **"Cayra! Don't leave me!"** Nerida rushes out of the cave to find Danae brutally slaughtered as well; her throat was slit, revealing silver blood, and a sharp spear sticks out of her bosom. Tears pour out of Nerida's eyes, and she's unable to control them. She hugs her dead sister's body and cries into her chest; she's the youngest out of all of her siblings, and she just lost the two oldest and the two that were the closest to her. Her brothers were too busy taking care of her sick father to care about her. The only siblings that cared about Nerida were Cayra and Danae, and now they're gone.

And Nerida's last words were yells to Cayra. The thought of that made Nerida cry even harder.

With a small sniffle, Nerida grabbed Danae and dragged her to one of the deepest parts of the ocean, burying her now pale body in sand, and placing a colorful underwater flower on top of her face. She remembered this flower, it was Danae's favorite. Her father would get her bouquets of this flower every year for her birthday, and the flower was known to be poisonous to tropical mermaids like them, but Danae was immune to the poison, so it never affected her. Nerida would only sneeze when she came in contact with the flower, and she was in fact, interrupted from her thoughts by a sneeze. _**"Guess that's how I'll remember you."**_ Nerida croaked out a small chirp.

She swam back to her cave and grabbed ahold of Cayra's body, covered in golden blood, and dragged her to the same part of the ocean where she buried Danae. She buried Cayra as well, and placed some sea kelp on top of her face. Cayra used to eat sea kelp every day at noon; she claimed it helped keep her scales shiny, but Nerida and Danae never believed her and thought it was a load of bull-shark.

Nerida then kissed the two faces of her dead sisters and was then interrupted by a net strangling her. She tried to break free, but the net only tightened. A scuba diver approached Nerida with a harpoon gun, and looked up, pointing to the surface. The net began to rise, and Nerida screamed, piercing the scuba diver's ears. Nerida tried to rip the net, but to no avail.

The net reached the surface and she was placed on a large yet dirty boat, and Nerida almost gagged as she began to struggle to breathe. Something sharp stuck onto her tail and she groaned when she found the culprit to be a large tag. The harsh sunlight began to slowly dry out her scales as she was fading in and out of consciousness.

A small scientist, about five feet tall, approached Nerida, and she gasped and tried to break free, chirping, _**"** **HELP ME! HELP!"**_ But nobody came to her aid. Instead, the tiny human knelt down next to her, "Don't worry, we're going to take you to a nice home. We can try and save your sisters." The scientist makes some kind of notion to the captain of the boat: a heavy-set man with a long gray beard, to lower the net and capture Cayra and Danae. The net lowers into the water and comes back up, with Cayra and Danae in its grasp.

"We had just accidentally hurt another mer-troll. Seriously, why do we keep hurting other mermaids?!" The scientist yells out, clearly exasperated. She tells the captain, "To the aquarium!"

* * *

When Nerida awoke again, she noticed that she was in a large tank, with a small cave and different varieties of colorful tropical fish swimming around. She felt at peace as she began to talk to the tropical fish, _**"Do any of you know where we are?"**_ The tropical fish all hummed in unison, _**"The aquarium, where the humans feed us pellets!"**_ _ **"Pellets?"**_ Nerida yells out exasperatedly, _**"That's cruel!"**_ The tropical fish sang again, _**"Not cruel, the pellets taste very nice."**_

The small scientist appears again in front of the tank and smiles, placing her hand on the tank. Nerida matches the handprint, her fingers and nails longer than the scientist's, and pink fins in between the spaces of her fingers. The scientist giggles, and attaches a piece of paper to the tank that says, " _Tavros w_ _ill feed you in 1 hour. -Latula"_

Nerida swam around her new tank for a while and then looked across from her. She noticed a large tank, darker than hers, with a tall mer-troll curled up on a large rock in the center of the tank. His tail was tucked up to his stomach, and he was fast asleep. Nerida stared at the mer-troll, and started frantically tapping on the glass; she then screamed, and the mer-troll was awake almost instantly, his purple eyes shining in the clear water.

The mer-troll's teeth instantly sharpened into barracuda-like fangs, and he began to snarl through his tank. Nerida got instantly scared, and hid behind one of the many kelp plants. The mer-troll slammed on the glass with his fists, and the sound echoed throughout the room, causing Nerida to cry.

Another scientist, this time a boy with one red eye and one blue eye ran into the room to find out what the commotion was. When he saw the frantic mer-troll, he used a walkie-talkie to call the coast guard. Soon enough, he ran in and placed his hand on the glass. The mer-troll saw the coast-guard's hand and calmed down, purple tears streaking his face. The scientist then walked over to Nerida, and said, "Did you scare him?" Nerida slowly swam out from behind the kelp and came up close to the glass, examining the strange eyed scientist. He sighed and walked away, as Nerida swam into her cave slowly.

She just wanted to go back home.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Sorry, that was a REALLY short chapter, but I'm on February break now, so I'll probably (hopefully) update more!**_

 _ **Goodnight all! Hope you enjoyed!**_

 _ **~~Four's Cake**_

 _ **Xx**_


End file.
